Niall Connolly: 'The only beauty in defeat is you find out who really wants to be part of the process or who wants to be part of the outcome'

Paul Corcoran reports from Eamonn Deacy Park

Treaty United suffered their second defeat in a row when they were defeated 4-1 by Galway in the Women’s National League at Eamonn Deacy Park on Saturday.

Manager Niall Connolly was disappointed in the manner of some of the goals his side conceded but he was able to take some positives from a much stronger second half showing by his young side.

“It’s probably a disappointment more than anything else,” Connolly said, speaking to extratime.com after the game.

“The first half, we weren’t good enough, I’m going to be respectful of Galway, look they put the ball in the back of the net but it’s been evident in our games that we’re assisting in teams scoring against us.

“Second half, it was a lot more positive we were pressing higher and we looked more of a team in everything we were doing.

“I can say we won the second half and took the positives from it but when we break everything down, there’s a lot of hard work to be done.”

United are one of the younger sides in the Women’s National League and they have had a tough time of it in their first four games with the Limerick side still without a win and having suffered a number of heavy losses.

Youth won’t be used as an excuse at Treaty United this season however.

“The one thing we are believing in as a group, is the process,” Connolly said.

“We do have a very young squad, now we’re not going to use that as an excuse, we as a staff need to find solutions but with what we’re looking to achieve it is a long term process.

“The only beauty in defeat is you find out who really wants to be part of the process or who wants to be part of the outcome.

“Last week against Wexford, it was tough but again we assisted them with two of their first four goals and again here against Galway, they put the ball in the net but we assisted in them scoring them goals.

“If we can work on cutting out our mistakes I think we’ll challenge a lot of teams across the ninety minutes but the girls showed a lot of heart, soul and desire in the second half and we’ll use that going forward.”

Treaty kept Galway scoreless in the second half and one major positive point was the well taken goal by substitute Áine Walsh.

“Áine Walsh is a very good player, she’s got a lot of ability,” the manager said of yesterday’s goal scorer.

“She’s very energetic and technically she’s getting better every week and she’s eager to learn and that’s one thing I’d say about Áine and a number of players, they’re eager to learn.

“She came on at half time and put in a really good performance, it wasn’t just her pressing, it was her movement off the ball, her decision making, she’s composed when she has the ball under pressure.

“She’s a really important player for us moving forward.”

Connolly’s side move on to face WNL Champions Peamount United next Sunday (kick-off 2pm).